Citadel of Spiders
The Citadel of Spiders is likely the first cave you can go into easily in the Perplexing Pool region. It is just as simple as the White Flower Garden and Hole of Beasts in the Awakening Wood, mild enemies, and mildly strong bosses. To get to this cave, no trouble is required, just move striaght out of the vicinity of your landing site, and move to the left, defeating one or more Yellow Wollywogs and some Shearwigs when needed. There are Skitter Leaves near the hole, but they can't bother you, so ignore them. This cave should be easy, so it would not be needed for you to go out of your way to stock on sprays, just get some nectar fo your Pikmin so they'll be in good shape. Treasures # #*Love Nugget # #*Creative Inspiration (NTSC) / Activity Arouser (PAL) #*Lip Service #*Paradoxical Enigma # #*Patience Tester (NTSC) / Open Architecture (PAL) #*Memorial Shell # #*Flame of Tomorrow #*King of Sweets #*Time Capsule # #*Regal Diamond #*The Key Enemies *Anode Beetle *Fiery Dweevil *Hermit Crawmad *Iridescent Flint Beetle *Mitite *Shearwig *Skitter Leaf *Water Dumple *Yellow Wollywog *'Boss: Beady Long Legs' Complete Guide Sublevel 1 The first sublevel of the Citadel of Spiders should be pretty easy. There are many maze-like pathways, and also other twig covered areas in the cave. The only enemies here are a few measly Shearwigs and harmless Skitter Leaves. Take a squad of Purple Pikmin, and one throw should take out any one of them easily when aimed correctly. After you are sure there are no enemies left that can pose a threat, take some Pikmin in and have them transport the Love Nugget to the pod. After you have recovered it, you may move on. Sublevel 2 The next level in this pest-filled cave is filled with many fiery hazards, and also some very pesky enemies. You will spawn in an enemy free area, so you can organize your Pikmin to clear the area. Take a squad of Red Pikmin and have them clear the area of fiery geysers, avoiding the jumps of Yellow Wollywogs. Then take your burly group of Purple Pikmin and have them defeat all of the Yellow Wollywogs and Fiery Dweevils, being wary if the Dweevils release fire. After the area is clear of all the enemies, you should have cleared a path to the treasures, even if the Dweevils had stolen them. There are three treasures that you need to get here, the Creative Inspiration, held by one of the Yellow Wollywogs, the Lip Service, and the Paradoxical Enigma, which is in an alcove, partially buried. There are a few alcoves that may have eggs that fall, and the possibility of a Violet Candypop Bud appearing, though somewhat of a minimal chance. After clearing the area, it would be imminent for you to move on. Sublevel 3 The next floor of the cave is plenty different from the previous one. Instead of fire, the area is rigged by electricity producing Anode Beetles. Swooping Snitchbugs also fly above the ground to trouble your Pikmin in their actions. First take some Yellow Pikmin, or Purple Pikmin instead if you are experienced at dodging the strings of the electricity made by the Anode Beetles. Go in and defeat any of the ground crawling Beetles you see, make sure when using purples that you DO NOT throw while the electricity is visible, otherwise, they will meet a shocking death. If you see a Snitchbug, go and defeat it too, for they can taunt you while moving treasures, purples can come in handy when grounding them too. After the enemies are gone, take all of you Pikmin and destroy every wall and explore every alcove. The Patience Tester, a large can, should be in an alcove partially buried, and sometimes behind one of these walls. To find the other treasure, the Memorial Shell, take a group of White Pikmin, and use the Treasure Gauge, for it is buried completely underground. After all the items are gathered, if you haven’t already, you can use the Queen Candypop Bud that drops from the ceiling in an alcove to gain some Pikmin, especially if you’re short in your total amount of Yellow Pikmin since you recently discovered them. After your other needs, such as recuperation via the nectar and sprays of eggs, you can progress to the next sublevel. Sublevel 4 The penultimate level of the cave is still mildly difficult; there are only two enemies found here, Water Dumples, and Hermit Crawmads, which may be new to you so far if you started to play. Take a squad of Purple Pikmin and Red Pikmin. Use the purples for defeating enemies, and reds for destroying fire-spouting geysers. You can also use White Pikmin for quickly transporting treasures. Find the three treasures, the Flame of Tomorrow, the King of Sweets, and the Time Capsule. They switch locations but one is found in an alcove, another is found on specific ramps or an alcove, and the third is held by one of the Crawmads. Once you have recovered all of the treasures, you can use a nearby Ivory Candypop Bud if you really need some White Pikmin. Eggs are also nearby for your use. After you are finished restoring the quality of your team if necessary, move on to the last area of this dungeon. Sublevel 5 (Final Floor) BOSS: Beady Long Legs The final floor of this cave is very big, and likewise, it has a considerably big enemy lurking in it, the infamous Beady Long Legs. It likely would make its first reappearance in this game here, if you haven’t already seen it somewhere else. You will be far from the boss, but you should get ready, take your Yellow Pikmin, or your Purple Pikmin, if you can handle them well, and move forward. You will be in another area where the Regal Diamond is buried, but ignore it for now. Once you reach the large circular plain, dismiss your Pikmin and run forward to make the Beady Log Legs appear. Go back and call your Pikmin, and get ready to battle the creature. If you need to, you can hype up your Pikmin with ultra-spicy spray, and then fight it. It will stomp around and make 4-8 crashes to the ground (make sure you stand back to avoid losing valuable Pikmin) with its big feet, and then lower its head for you to attack. When it lowers its head for a second time when you have thrown Pikmin on it, it usually shakes them off; when it attempts to do so, call your Pikmin off before they are thrown around in a huge mess. If it continues to move without shaking them off, don’t call them, they may deal a lot of damage, but be prepared to call them when necessary. Repeat this process, and you should vanquish the towering insect. It will release The Key from its spherical torso, and you can then take it back to the pod, once you do, you get a transmission saying that you can now access Challenge Mode from the Title Screen. If you still have some White Pikmin, take them and throw them onto the ledges you saw earlier so they can dig up the completely buried treasure, the Regal Diamond, the Treasure Gauge may come handy if you’re having trouble finding it. If you’re interested, take a small group of Purple Pikmin and walk in front of one of the Common Glowcaps in the area, throw a Purple Pikmin on them and see if an Iridescent Flint Beetle comes out (only one can be found here per visit), fight it for nectar and one ultra-spicy spray; once you recover from your battle, you can finally exit the cave by using the geyser nearby in a narrow passageway.